"Conclusion
Emphasis on kinetics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics provides a conceptual framework for understanding the effect of macronutrient composition on maintenance and change of body mass and possibly for analysis of adipocyte metabolism in general. The simple model presented is intended to be consistent with a general shift away from equilibrium thermodynamics and towards a more dynamic analysis of cellular processes."

"Inconsistencies in studies attempting to correlate seizure protection with levels of ketone bodies suggest that another mechanism may be involved in the diet’s beneficial effects on seizures. Several mechanisms have been proposed, including changes in ATP production making neurons more resilient in the face of metabolic demands during seizures; altered brain pH affecting neuronal excitability; direct inhibitory effects of ketone bodies or fatty acids on ion channels; and shifts in amino acid metabolism to favor the synthesis of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA."

GABA is an interesting neurotransmitter, as it's the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system.

Point 1 is wrong. For ~85% of people who have T2DM, hyper*emia is the salient feature, where * = glucose, TG's, cholesterol, NEFAs, uric acid etc. For ~85% of people who have T2DM, it's a disease of chronic excess.

Point 4 is misleading. Feinman doesn't distinguish between different types of carbohydrates. Starches, especially resistant starches (e.g. Amylose) are beneficial. See Point 11.

Point 5 is moot. Prof. Roy Taylor found that motivation determines adherence. Prof. Roy Taylor's PSMF was adhered to. See Point 3.

Point 6 is correct. Prof. Roy Taylor's PSMF is ~1g Protein/kg Bodyweight, some ω-6 & ω-3EFAs & veggies for fibre. See Point 3.

Point 7 is misleading. Siri-Tarino et al gave a null result by including low fat studies, also a dairy fat study which had a RR < 1 for increasing intake. Chowdhury et al gave a null result, as some fats have a RR > 1 for increasing intake and some have a RR < 1 for increasing intake.

"The human body does not need carbohydrates from an external food source, because it is capable of very precisely and correctly assembling its own amounts of glucose that is needed in very small amounts for auxiliary and specialized functions." - Igor Butorski.

After liver glycogen has been depleted on a LC, VLC or ZC diet, total glucose production from liver+kidneys = ~100g/day = ~4g/hour. According to It's all in a day's work (as measured in Joules) , the body uses carbs at a rate exceeding ~4g/hour at exercise intensities exceeding ~25%. This is unsustainable.

3)It's wasteful. Glucose production from protein converts ~50% of the most expensive macronutrient (protein) into the cheapest macronutrient (carbohydrate). It creates expensive urine, as the nitrogen part of amino acids is detoxified by being converted into urea by the liver and then wee'ed out by the kidneys.

4) Using the above argument, the human body does not need saturated fats & monounsaturated fats from an external food source, because it is capable of very precisely and correctly assembling its own amounts of saturated fats & monounsaturated fats (out of carbohydrate) that are needed in very small amounts for auxiliary and specialized functions.

If we consume only Essential Fatty Acids, Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, Minerals, Fibre/Fiber, Water & Anutrients, there won't be much to eat. Also, there won't be a source of chemical energy to generate heat energy & mechanical energy. That's what dietary carbohydrates & fats are for!

Storage depots:

Carbohydrates:

For Ethanol, there's a large storage tank (≡ muscle glycogen) and a small storage tank (≡ liver glycogen). The contents of the large storage tank cannot be used to top-up the small storage tank, but the contents of the small storage tank can be used to top-up the large storage tank. The contents of the small storage tank are used to fuel a generator (≡ Hepatic Glucose Production) to keep the ECU (≡ brain) working at all times. The contents of the large storage tank are used to fuel the engine.

Fats:

For Octane, there's a large storage tank (≡ subcutaneous adipose tissue) and a small storage tank (≡ visceral adipose tissue). The contents of the small storage tank are used to produce hormones etc. The contents of the large storage tank are used to fuel the engine.

Substrate Utilisation:

When the car is driven at low speed, the engine burns mostly Octane (≡ RQ=0.7).
When the car is rapidly accelerating or driven at high speed, the engine burns mostly Ethanol (≡ RQ=1).
When the car is being driven intermediately, the engine burns a mixture of Octane & Ethanol.

Overeating/Undereating:

Carbohydrates:

If the large Ethanol storage tank becomes full, excess Ethanol overspills to the small storage tank.
If the small storage tank becomes full, a gizmo kicks-in and converts excess Ethanol into Octane (≡ De-Novo Lipogenesis).
It also shifts fuel usage of the engine towards Ethanol, to deplete Ethanol as quickly as possible.
If the small storage tank becomes full, the car malfunctions (≡ fatty liver).

Conversely, if the small storage tank becomes nearly empty, it shifts fuel usage of the engine towards Octane, to conserve Ethanol.

Fats:

If the large Octane storage tank becomes full, excess Octane overspills to the small storage tank.
If the small storage tank becomes full, the car malfunctions (≡ insulin resistance/metabolic syndrome/type 2 diabetes).

Monday, 21 July 2014

Ancel B. Keys has come in for a lot of flak recently over alleged "cherry-picking" of data for his 6/7 Countries studies. Here's Keys' critique:- "SUCROSE IN THE DIET AND CORONARY HEART DISEASE" of Dr. John Yudkin's "15 Countries" article.

Keys accuses Yudkin of bias, cherry-picking countries that fit his own hypothesis.

There's good correlation between Coronary mortality and total fat intake, for countries 15 to 7. For countries 7 to 1, there's no correlation between Coronary mortality and total fat intake, suggesting that other differences (e.g. quality of health-care, social stress, antioxidant status etc) are significant factors.

This looks like bad news for the meat/fowl/fish/cheese/egg-lovers.

This looks like bad news for the sugar-lovers.

Of course, association ≠ causation.

This looks like bad news for rich people.

In conclusion, total fat intake, animal protein intake, sugar intake & annual income are all associated with increased Coronary mortality, over a certain range of values.

People who are taking the anti-clotting medication Warfarin need to maintain an accurate balance between their warfarin dose and their Vitamin K intake to keep their INR between 2 and 3, as warfarin antagonizes vitamin K1 recycling, depleting active vitamin K1.
"Between 2003 and 2004, the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines received several reports of increased INR and risk of haemorrhage in people taking warfarin and cranberry juice. Data establishing a causal relationship is still lacking, and a 2006
review found no cases of this interaction reported to the FDA; nevertheless, several authors have recommended that both doctors and patients be made aware of its possibility. The mechanism behind the interaction is still unclear." Here's a clue...

From Possible interaction between warfarin and cranberry juice (emphasis, mine):-
"After a chest infection (treated with cefalexin), a man in his 70s had a poor appetite for two weeks and ate next to nothing, taking only cranberry juice as well as his regular drugs (digoxin, phenytoin, and Warfarin). Six weeks after starting cranberry juice he had been admitted to hospital with an INR (international normalised ratio) > 50. Before, his control of INR had been stable. He died of a gastrointestinal and pericardial haemorrhage. He had not taken any over
the counter preparations or herbal medicines, and he had been taking his drugs correctly." Cranberry juice contains no Vitamin K. Oy!

"The Committee on Safety of Medicines has received seven other reports through the yellow card reporting scheme about a possible interaction between warfarin and cranberry juice leading to changes in INR or bleeding. In four cases, the increase in INR or bleeding after patients had drunk cranberry juice was less dramatic. In two cases, INR was generally unstable, and in another case INR decreased. Limited information is available about whether patients complied with their treatment in these cases.

Cranberry juice (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is popular and is also used to prevent cystitis. Interaction with warfarin is biologically plausible, because cranberry juice contains antioxidants, including flavonoids, which are known to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes, and warfarin is predominantly metabolised by P450 CYP2C9. The constituents of different brands of cranberry juice may vary, and this might affect their potential for interacting with drugs. Whether the constituents of cranberry juice inhibit CYP2C9 and therefore the metabolism of warfarin or interact in another way needs further investigation. Until then, patients taking warfarin would be prudent to limit their intake of this drink." Oy!

So, one man's inadvertent (his doctor should have warned him about eating next to nothing while taking warfarin) dietary extremism resulted in his own death and the restricted intake of cranberry juice for everybody else taking warfarin. Oy. :-(

P.S. It's about time an alternative to warfarin was found. It's difficult to maintain an accurate balance between warfarin dose and Vitamin K intake.

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

From Neuron fuel and function (emphasis & formatting, mine):-
"Ketones and lactate do not drive reverse electron flow through complex I. Glucose can. Palmitate certainly can. What you want from a metabolic fuel depends on the remit of your cell types. Neurons within the brain preserve information by their continued existence.

This is best done by burning lactate or ketones. NOT glucose and, of course, not FFAs.

Anyone who claims that glucose is the preferred metabolic fuel of the brain has not though (sic) about what a neuron has to do and what an astrocyte actually does do. Or much about the electron transport chain."

Basically, glucose is bad mmm-kay. Also, anyone who claims that glucose is the preferred metabolic fuel of the brain is a dumb-ass. Damn our livers & kidneys churning out glucose! Are they trying to kill us?

∴ Carbohydrates are bad and must be avoided at all cost! This, of course, is utter nonsense.

Glucose can drive reverse electron flow through complex
I. Can means that it's possible. Is it probable?

On a hypercaloric Western diet of excessive crap-in-a-bag/box/bottle, yes.

Sunday, 13 July 2014

I nearly used a certain scene from Blazing Saddles. It would have been much more entertaining.

As I said in Why you really can't outrun your fork:-
"Although I totally support the use of low-carbohydrate/calorie diets for people with insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes, now that I'm no longer insulin resistant, I can eat natural carbohydrates without any problems.

I eat the whole thing, including the jacket. It's very filling and I'm still able to lose weight. For active and insulin sensitive people, a Kitavan-style diet is absolutely fine."

In the TV series "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!", there are two teams at the beginning. Members of each team compete against each other, to win food for their respective teams. The winning team gets to eat all sorts of exciting animal produce from "down-under". The losing team gets to eat rice & beans.

By the end of the series, team members (especially the over-fat celebrities) had lost a lot of body-fat. Coincidence? I think not. Combining Long-grain Rice with Beans (set Serving size: to 100g) provides all the Essential Amino Acids and is very filling. How do I know this? Guess!

Friday, 11 July 2014

Having previously shown you what I look like on a diet of ~125g/day low-GL carbohydrates, here are a couple of recent pictures of Jimmy Moore, who's on a very-low-carb, very-high-fat diet (~85%E from fats), a.k.a. Nutritional Ketosis. It involves adding Kerrygold butter to just about everything, even eating sticks of it from a block. I'm not kidding.

The only recent footage of Fredrick Hahn, is the following video from the Low Carb Cruise...

To my eyes, Nutritional Ketosis is good for absolutely nothing. Dietary fat can be stored as body fat, in the absence of dietary carbohydrates. Gary Taubes' claim "You can basically exercise as much gluttony as you want, as long as you're eating (only) fat and protein." is pure fantasy, not supported by evidence.

The low protein intake in Nutritional Ketosis, combined with the high serum cortisol that's almost inevitable on this way of eating, results in a loss of muscle mass. I give Nutritional Ketosis a thumbs-down.

I can safely state that Fredrick Hahn is a liar (I am not poking fun at anybody and I have only blocked him (not his followers) from posting here, for a flagrant breach of my Moderation Policy on his first attempt at commenting), and intellectually-dishonest (for repeatedly mis-quoting me, and using other logical fallacies). He posted the above post knowing that, as I had blocked him on Facebook, I wouldn't see it. I only learned of its existence after a friend PM'ed me on Facebook Messenger. He instructed his "followers" to leave comments here and then accuse me of lying about white-listing, back on his page, because their comments didn't appear immediately. He's a real piece of work! From ABOUT ME:-

Moderation Policy:Comments from first-time & untrusted commenters are moderated ← (click for details). Please be patient. Now that I have a Smart Phone, I can publish your comments during the day when I'm away from my lap-top, but I prefer to type replies on my lap-top. Comments from anonymous commenters, containing links in any form, are deleted.

This is a function of Disqus, as it's impossible to retrospectively white-list a commenter who's never commented here before. There appears to be a severe lack of cognitive function in these people. I really can't think why that is ;-)

Why am I being so hard on Jimmy Moore and Fredrick Hahn? I don't know these people personally.

1) These people are making money out of peddling pseudoscience.

2) These people meet all the criteria in Guest post: Science versus Pseudoscience and have created an alternative science, where sky-high LDL cholesterol, sky-high LDL-P and sky-high postprandial TG's are not risk factors for CHD, but are either harmless or beneficial.

Fredrick Hahn said...
"I've said this to Nigel before Tom Traynor and he insists he doesn't want muscles.

But to be fair to Nigel, he can indeed be 100% correct and at the same time be a blubbery, weak, mess of a man. You can be a great lung cancer doctor and smoke..."

Tom Traynor said...
"NK LOOKS terrible!--soft, fat and weak--and drum roll: "Doesn't want any muscle". So he is an absolute FOOL, too (loss of muscle mass predicting mortality--among MANY other facets). That's all the "science" I need."

What I actually wrote:-Nigel Kinbrum said...
"Considering my age (59.25), I'm in pretty good condition. I'm 6' tall and weigh 198lbs. I have *no* desire to have big muscles or a 6-pack. Each to their own."

Misquoting, or quoting out of context is a Straw man fallacy. Saying that a physical characteristic invalidates knowledge is an Ad Hominem fallacy. In addition, saying that a lack of relevant qualifications invalidates knowledge is an inverse Argument from authority fallacy. Repeated use of logical fallacies is intellectual dishonesty.

Some people believe that if going to the gym isn't making them lose weight, they're not exercising hard enough. Chronically over-exercising can chronically raise serum cortisol, which makes the kidneys retain water, causing a stall in weight-loss, as well as causing raised fasting blood glucose, irritability, poor memory and a slower metabolic rate, due to the reduced conversion of thyroxine into tri-iodothyronine.

Don't over-exercise!

A healthy body weight is made in the kitchen, not the gym. Buy produce, cook it and eat it!

Although I totally support the use of low-carbohydrate/calorie diets for people with insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes, now that I'm no longer insulin resistant, I can eat natural carbohydrates,without any problems.

1) Calories don't count because the human body isn't a Bomb Calorimeter and treats different macronutrients differently.
100g of liquid paraffin burns in a Bomb Calorimeter, yielding 900kcals. In a human, it passes through completely undigested. Ah-ha!, I hear you saying. This proves that the Energy Balance Equation is invalid. Uh, nope!

Calories in = Calories entering mouth - Calories exiting anus

As 100% of liquid paraffin calories entering the mouth exit the anus, Calories in = 0

This is why Sam Feltham's "Smash the Fat" "experiment" is utter nonsense. A high percentage of the large amount of raw almonds he ate would have exited his anus incompletely chewed, undigested & unabsorbed.

See the picture above? In the late 1800's, W.O. Atwater established Atwater Factors (3.75kcals/g for digestible Carbohydrates, 4kcals/g for Proteins, 5kcals/g for Ketones, 7kcals/g for Alcohols & 9kcals/g for Fats*) using Human Calorimeters, not Bomb Calorimeters.

Uh, nope! The Heat Power generated by the body is
regulated by a NFB loop involving the Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Thyroid Axis, also Uncoupling Proteins (UCP's), also shivering, so as to maintain a body temperature of 37°C
±3°C. If this wasn't the case, different amounts & types of foods (also,
changes in ambient temperature & clothing) would cause large
variations in body temperature resulting in death, as the enzymes in
our bodies function correctly over a limited range of
temperatures.

Heat Power generated by the body (W) = Temperature difference between the body & ambient (°C) divided by Thermal resistance between the body & ambient (°C/W)

Sunday, 6 July 2014

This post is based on https://www.facebook.com/richard.feinman.7/posts/667508920000715:-
"When people say the laws of thermodynamics, they usually mean the first law, the law of conservation of energy. However, “conservation of energy” can be a sound bite, at the level of “Einstein said that everything is relative.” You have to know exactly what is being conserved. Precise definitions become very important. One of the many difficulties in understanding thermodynamics is that there are simple principles which seem obvious enough but their import is under-appreciated without a real example.

The first law says precisely that there is a parameter called the internal energy and the change (Δ) in the internal energy of a system is equal to the heat, q, added to the system minus the work, w, that the system does on the environment. (The internal energy is usually written as U so as not to confuse it with the electrical potential).

ΔU = q - w (1)

This is how thermodynamics is taught. To go to the next step you need to understand the idea of a state variable. A state variable is a variable where any change is path-independent. For example, the familiar temperature T and pressure P are state variables. It doesn’t matter whether you change the pressure quickly or slowly. The effect on the system is controlled by the difference between the pressure after the change minus the temperature before the change, that is, ΔP. The usual analogy is the as-the-crow-flies geographical distance, say, between New York and San Francisco. This is a state variable: it doesn't matter whether you fly direct or go through Memphis and Salt Lake City like the flights that I wind up on.

Now, U in equation (1) is a state variable. Any process that you carry out will have a change in U that depends only on the initial and final states. However, q and w are NOT state variables. How you design your machine will determine how much work you can get out of it and how much of the energy change will be wasted. Looking at the biological case, two metabolic changes with the same U have no theoretical reason why they should have the same relative amounts of heat and work, that is, the same efficiency (storing fat as compared to generating heat). Of course, they might but there is no theoretical barrier to difference.

In this, the first law contains the suggestion of the second law. The second law is what thermodynamics is really about.... It is the second law that embodies the special character of thermodynamics. Described by Ilya Prigogine, the Nobel-prize winning chemist and philosopher of thermodynamics, as the first revolutionary science, it is the second law that explains how one diet can be more or less efficient that the other."
Ref: Non-equilibrium thermodynamics and energy efficiency in weight loss diets.

To which I replied:-
"Uncoupling proteins (UCP's) vary ATP → ADP+heat energy, so as to maintain the human body at 37°C ±3°C, over a wide range of ambient temperatures.

Therefore, "diet efficiency" is varying over a wide range, for all diets."

Followed by:-
"Here's an example:-

To maintain a body temperature of 37°C in an ambient temperature of 20°C, the body needs to generate ~1kcal/min (~69.8W).

As humans must (& can) survive over a wide range of ambient temperatures while being covered with a wide range of clothing while eating a wide range of diets, UCP activity must be capable of being varied from 0 (ambient temperature ≥37°C) to a very high value (swimming in water at 0°C).

Therefore, "diet efficiency" is irrelevant, as UCP's equalise overall efficiency, to equalise the rate of heat energy generation for a given ambient temperature & clothing.

Friday, 4 July 2014

Having explained how low-carbohydrate diets work, here are a few ways in which they don't work.

Uh, nope!

1. Hormonal clogs: This is a term used by Jonathan Bailor. I don't think he's referring to wooden shoes! The "clog", I'm guessing, is supposedly caused by that dastardly hormone insulin. Uh, nope!

See the following plots of RER vs exercise intensity after being on high-fat diet or low-fat diet.

RER = 0.7 ≡ 100%E from fat. RER ≥ 1.0 ≡ 100%E from carb.

The low-fat diet results in higher RER, so the body is burning a higher %E from carb and a lower %E from fat.

However, this doesn't make any difference to weight loss, as it's merely a substrate utilisation issue. In addition, when the body is burning a higher %E from carb, this depletes muscle glycogen stores faster, which lowers RER during the course of the exercise. So, it's not a problem.

From Second Law of Thermodynamics:-
"Living organisms are often mistakenly believed to defy the Second Law because they are able to increase their level of organization. To correct this misinterpretation, one must refer simply to the definition of systems and boundaries. A living organism is an open system, able to exchange both matter and energy with its environment."

People on ketogenic diets excrete very few kcals as ketone bodies. See STUDIES IN KETONE BODY EXCRETION. There is no significant Metabolic Advantage with low-carbohydrate diets.

See The Battle of the Diets: Is Anyone Winning (At Losing?) for trials where insulin resistant people get more weight loss on low-carbohydrate diets than on high-carbohydrate diets, and insulin sensitive people get more weight loss on high-carbohydrate diets than on low-carbohydrate diets.

If Gary Taubes' carbohydrate/insulin hypothesis of obesity was correct, everyone would get more weight loss on low-carbohydrate diets. This isn't the case, therefore Gary Taubes' hypothesis is not correct.

Although insulin is involved, it has nothing to do with "Hormonal clogs" or "Insulin fairies"!

People with Insulin Resistance (IR), Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) & Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) also have impaired/no 1st phase insulin response to a sudden rise in blood glucose level. This introduces a time-lag into the negative feed-back (NFB) loop that regulates blood glucose level. If the input rise-time is less than the time-lag in a NFB loop, the output of the NFB loop overshoots. This is standard NFB loop behaviour. Trust me, I'm a retired Electronic Engineer. I've observed this (too) many times!

1. On a high-refined-carbohydrate or high-GL diet, blood glucose level rises rapidly, with a rise-time that's less than the time-lag in the blood glucose regulation NFB loop. Insulin secretion from the pancreas overshoots in a positive direction. The resulting massive postprandial hyperinsulinaemia results in down-regulation of insulin receptors in the brain, which reduces insulin action in the brain. When the insulin level eventually falls to normal a few hours later, the brain interprets a normal insulin level as hypoinsulinaemia. Hypoinsulinaemia results in ravenous hunger, as insulin is a short-term satiety/satiation hormone in the brain (leptin is a long-term satiety/satiation hormone in the brain). Ravenous hunger results in over-eating. Energy in increases. Postprandial hyperinsulinaemia also results in postprandial sleepiness. Energy out decreases. ∴ Bodily stores increase. There are also accusations of sloth & gluttony!

2. On a low-carbohydrate or low-GL diet, there are small fluctuations in blood glucose & insulin levels. There is no ravenous hunger. There is much less/no over-eating. Energy in decreases. There is no massive postprandial hyperinsulinaemia. There is much less/no postprandial sleepiness. Energy out increases. ∴ Bodily stores decrease.

About Me

I have a B.Sc.(Hons) in Electronic Engineering but no qualifications in Diet, Nutrition & Fitness, which is why I back-up what I write with links to high-quality evidence.

You can email me at
nigel.kinbrum@entee'ellworld.com
(say it!).

My suggestions must ALWAYS be checked by your Pharmacist/GP first, in case of contraindications with other medical conditions or medications that I don't know about. My suggestions are adjuncts to, NOT replacements for medication(s).

If symptoms improve, ask your GP about a reduction in medication(s), if it's/they're causing you problems.

Cheers, Nigel Kinbrum B.Sc.(Hons)Eng.

Moderation Policy:-READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING. I can approve comments using my phone when I'm away from my lap-top, but I prefer to type replies on my lap-top, so please be patient.

Competing Interest:- When you get a $5 discount by using code NIG935 on iHerb.com, I get a $5 reward.